81 years have passed since the death of the founder of psychoanalysis. But over time, our interest in his personality only grows. We have collected rare photos that give an idea of what he was like with his family and close friends.
Most often, we imagine Freud as restrained, strict, and even seemingly solemn – as in the well-known photograph with a cigar or in the one where he is depicted in his garden in Vienna next to his own bust, which was created in 1930 by the sculptor Oscar Nimon.
But Freud was different. Marie Bonaparte, his patient and follower, takes pictures of the founder of psychoanalysis in his office, trying to convey the charm of his personality and his theory. We see their reflections in the mirror. Freud does not look at the viewer, his facial expressions are unpredictable, his shoulders are raised, he looks tense. But he had to pose more than once, what is the reason?
This is a snapshot for memory: the year is 1938, Freud will soon have to part with Vienna, and with his home, and with his lovingly assembled collection of figurines. The Nazis have already occupied Austria, and it is not without difficulty that Marie Bonaparte manages to obtain permission for Freud to leave.
Many of Freud’s relatives and four of his sisters died in the death camps (only one survived, Anna, who moved to the United States with her husband in 1892). Freud, who suffered from jaw cancer, died in his own bed a year and three months later, on the night of September 23, 1939. His personal physician, Max Schur, complied with Freud’s request: he administered a dose of morphine that relieved him of his suffering.
Family Relationships
Freud was born in Freiberg in Moravia. Now it is the Czech Republic, and then this area was part of Austria. Freud’s mother Amalia was the second wife of his father Jacob.
Freud grew up in a large family: he had two siblings and five sisters, and two older half-brothers. These were Jacob’s sons from his first marriage: Emanuel and Philip. Moreover, according to the stories of his daughter Anna, which is discussed below, Freud liked to imagine that Philip was his father, and Jacob was his grandfather.
And Emanuel’s son John was his “inseparable playmate.” Formally, he was Sigmund’s nephew, but he was his age: he was born in the same 1856.
Alas, when the family moved to Leipzig and a year later to Vienna, both older brothers emigrated to England. However, family ties were not interrupted: Freud twice visited Emanuel and Philip and their families in England, while still a student, and again after three decades.
Free associations
Freud did not have a warm relationship with his father. But it was after the death of Jacob on October 23 (note the coincidence of dates!) 1896 that Freud decided to apply the method of free association to himself. It was then that he discovered the Oedipus complex: the boy’s love for his mother and jealousy for his father.
He described this phenomenon in The Interpretation of Dreams – the book was published exactly 120 years ago. And the term itself was introduced by Freud 10 years later (“On a special type of object choice in men”, 1910).
Freud’s love for his mother was mutual. It was she who began to call him Sigmund (at birth he was given the name Sigismund Shlomo), as the legendary king from the Scandinavian epic. This name comes from two Old High German words: sigu (“victory”) and munt (“protection”).
Both father and mother had high hopes for him since childhood. Sigmund had a separate room and a kerosene lamp, while the rest studied by candlelight. As we know, the hopes of the parents were fully justified.
To be continued
Freud grew up in a large family and created a large family himself.
In 1886, he married Martha Bernays, and in the next 8 years, one after another, their six children were born: Matilda, Jean Martin, Oliver, Ernst Ludwig, Sophie and Anna.
He loved everyone, but he also had a strong intellectual connection with his youngest daughter. On December 6, 1920, three days after Anna’s 25th birthday, he writes a letter in which, with humor and paternal tenderness, he compares Anna with his theory: “You are exactly the same age as psychoanalysis. Both he and you caused me trouble, but deep down I still expect more joy from you than from him.
Anna Freud received a pedagogical education and worked as a teacher for five years, while attending her father’s lectures. In 1923, she opened her own practice, becoming the first child psychoanalyst.
In the same year it was discovered that Freud had cancer. Anna looked after him until the last day. A children’s psychotherapy center in London is named after her.